> I would love to have a system that does not need any > tinkering for it to be able to provide me with absolutely best audio > performance I can possibly squeeze out of my hardware regardless whether > it is playing a desktop bleep warning, or doing complex audio > processing.
I guess this is why companies make dedicated hardware. Why not treat yourself to the somewhat dated protools? I believe there's even a linux based digital recorder (can't remember who makes it though).